THE Professional Regulation Comission (PRC) plans to reduce the
requirements on licensed professionals in order to ease the burden of
complying with the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Law.

In an interview with BusinessWorld on Wednesday, PRC
Commissioner Teofilo S. Pilando Jr. said: “Right now we’ll be reviewing
to see where we can reduce the burden on the professional.”

Republic Act No. 10912 or the Continuing Professional Development Act
of 2016 was enacted in 2016 and took effect in 2017, after the PRC
released Resolution No. 1032, which are the law’s implementing rules and
regulations (IRR).

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The PRC was called on by senators on Wednesday to amend the IRR to
ease the burden on professionals required to complete a CPD course load.

In a hearing conducted by Senators Antonio F. Trillanes IV, Ralph G.
Recto, Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, and Aquilino L. Pimentel III, the
lawmakers agreed that the mandatory nature of CPD programs should be
less onerous.

Mr. Pilando added “We had such high expectations at that time the law
was passed but now maybe we’re realizing that things have to be
resolved.”

The PRC also said that implementing the CPD Law has been hobbled by a lack of funding.

“We are limited in resources. Many know that we don’t have the budget
to implement CPD. We’re limited in monitoring,” he said, adding that
the PRC apologizes for the complaints of professionals regarding the
law’s implementation.

On the mandatory nature of CPD course work, Mr. Pilando said that
some fields really require CPD units. He also pointed out that the
commission issued Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 07, Series of 2017 which
allows professionals to sign undertakings to complete the required
course work at some point in the future.

“We came up with the concept of the ‘undertaking’ so no one is being
denied of the renewal because we believe the professionals are honorable
persons. Why would you deny him the renewal of his (professional) ID?”
he added. — Gillian M. Cortez